


Potion of Rebirth

by Kireizaki



Category: Sword Art Online (Anime & Manga)
Genre: F/F, Genderbending, Manga & Anime, Romance, Transformation, Transgender, Yuri
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-07
Updated: 2019-09-07
Packaged: 2020-10-11 22:08:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20553446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kireizaki/pseuds/Kireizaki
Summary: An avid MMO player desperate to tweak their avatar gets far, far more than they bargained for after following a shady online rumor.





	Potion of Rebirth

**Author's Note:**

> This story was originally published on DeviantArt on November 26th, 2017.
> 
> I'm slowly working through much of my library of work and getting them reposted on here until everything can be published on both sites concurrently. Please excuse any roughness in my writing, as I've developed a great deal since then!

Kenta was annoyed. After a week of having these stupid marks painted on his face, he was desperate to remove them no matter what. He didn’t want to start a new character, that’d be a lot of progress to go back on, after all, but he wasn’t sure he could take another day with whiskers.  
  
Kenta had a weird fondness for finding out all sorts of secrets about Sword Art Online, an MMO he’d grown totally obsessed with over the past few months, but information about the quest that had gotten him into his current predicament was surprisingly scant, as if nobody had done it at all. There wasn’t even a starting quest giver listed anywhere. He and Philia, the first person he’d really hit it off with in SAO, and an avid treasure hunter, went searching for it themselves. When they finally found it, Kenta rushed in to accept it first, swearing he’d be the first player to complete it.  
  
The quest involved a strange, reclusive martial arts master NPC, and the description was oddly vague, stating that it would give players an exclusive skill and...nothing else. As soon as he accepted it, he regretted it, as the NPC immediately painted three whisker-like marks on each of his cheeks. He then tasked Kenta with breaking a boulder using nothing but his bare hands, stating that the mark wouldn’t vanish if he couldn’t succeed.  
  
Naturally, he couldn’t. He didn’t have even the slightest idea of how to go about breaking the boulder. He’d been a dagger user, and focused more on agility than raw strength, so there was no way he could punch his way through the problem. It’d take weeks, if not months of constant chipping away for him to get to it. His friend Philia was unable to hold in her laughter each and every time she saw his face, saying that “I just can’t help it, Ken! You just- you look so goofy! Like a weird rat or something!” He swore to her that he was going to undo this, no matter what.  
  
He sat in his in-game room, waiting for Philia to show up. Even though he was the one who usually dug up the juiciest info, her treasure hunting hobby ensured she was no slouch herself, and she insisted he’d like what she had to tell him. As much as her teasing over his whiskers had annoyed him, he wasn’t willing to turn down anything that could help him.  
  
He lay on his bed, just staring at the ceiling when he heard his door opening up. Philia was the only player he’d given the ability to enter his room, so he didn’t bother looking up at her.  
  
“Yo, Phi-Phi.” He smirked, knowing it’d rile her up.  
  
“Jeez, I told you not to call me that, Kenta!” She huffed, Kenta had started calling her that in the wake of her constant teasing about his new whiskers. It was catty, sure, but...well, he didn’t have any excuse for doing it, he just thought it was fun.  
  
Kenta sat up, looking straight at her “Well, it’s sticking until these things come off or you stop finding them so funny!” He pointed at his marks, and sure enough, Philia started laughing immediately, trying desperately to stifle herself before it came bursting out.  
  
“Ahaha! It’s just- I can’t take you seriously at all like that! It’s just so ridiculous!”  
  
Kenta groaned, only making her laugh even harder.  
  
“Didn’t you have something to tell me?” Kenta interrupted.  
  
Philia wiped away a small tear, taking a moment to calm down, speaking up once she felt like she’d be able to at least get a sentence out without cracking up.  
  
“Yep! I was looking at SAO treasure hunting forums, and I heard a rumor about a super rare item that lets players change their appearance! If you found that, we could get rid of your- Pfft… Your adorable- Ahaha!” She gave up on even trying to complete that as she burst out laughing once more.  
  
Kenta grimaced, but said nothing. He was more excited by the good news than he was dismayed at yet another laughing fit at his expense. Still, he waited for her to stop before he spoke up.  
  
“Now that you’ve had a moment, where is this thing? I’m free all day, so I’m gonna go get it right away.” Those forums Philia loved so much were often full of false leads, but Kenta didn’t care if this was just some sketchy rumor. He wanted to be rid of his whiskers, and he’d go on a hundred wild goose chases if he had to for that. Philia relayed the instructions she’d heard, Kenta noting them dutifully.  
  
“I’m not gonna be able to come with you though. I’ve gotta study today, so I won’t be free until this evening! I just knew you’d be excited and wanted to tell you about it as soon as I could! If you wanna wait though, I can come with you to find it tonight?” Philia was a high schooler, so her studies seemed to get in the way of their playtime a lot more than she liked, but Kenta, who was unemployed, had no such obligations to deal with. While he’d have normally loved her company, he wanted these things gone as quickly as possible, so he’d have to go it alone today.  
  
“Sorry, Phi-Phi, I need these things gone. We’ll definitely play tonight if you’re free though! We’ll try explore a dungeon or something.” He smiled cheerfully, excited to get going.  
  
“No problem! I’ll send you a message when I’m free! Bye!” She waved as she navigated through the menu to log out.  
  
“See you later!”  
  
“Ah, Kenta, I wasn’t talking to you, I was talking to your whiskers!” She hit log out immediately after saying that. Kenta saw a cocky smirk break out on her face the instant before her character vanished. He grumbled a little, but picked himself off and headed out, determined to finally put an end to his whisker troubles.  
  
~~~  
  
As simple as Philia’s instructions had seemed, reaching the area where he’d find the item was no small task, with so many obtuse puzzles to solve and bizarre paths to travel, he was certain he’d hit the edge of the game’s world at every turn, yet such an anti-climax never arrived. Coming across a secret room buried deep within a dungeon even he’d never heard of, he found himself, surprisingly, by a lake that seemed to be suspended in midair, totally separate from any of Aincrad’s 100 floors. It was gorgeous, almost heavenly here, with a small path leading to the middle of the lake. Right in the middle of the path was an ornately decorated chest, colored in a way that was reserved for only the rarest of the rare loot that SAO had to offer.  
  
“It’s real! Phi-Phi, you really came through on this one!” Kenta marveled at the beauty of the area for but a small moment, before he sprinted to the chest in front of him, eager to reveal its contents. Even if this somehow wasn’t the item he wanted, he was sure the reward here would be worth the journey. He’d have to come here again with Philia sometime, he was sure she’d appreciate it as a rest area, if nothing else. A little private lake, all for the two of them. Though he was always coy about admitting it, her companionship helped carry him through his often terribly lonely days, and today, she’d done something pretty incredible for him.  
  
He kneeled in front of the chest, lifting the lid so quickly it looked like the hinges might snap. In the chest lay a small, unassuming bottle, filled with a liquid that danced between dozens of colors, never settling on any for more than a second.  
  
“This has to be it!” Kenta examined the bottle, bringing up an item name and description.  
  
‘Potion of Rebirth: Alters the appearance and identity of the user.’  
  
“It is! It’s exactly what I needed! I can even change my name, too!” Kenta hated his username, picking it on a whim when he was sure the game was something he’d give a brief try at best before dropping it entirely. Now that he’d spent hundreds of hours with SAO, ‘Kentan01’ felt like an embarrassing relic of a name. This potion would do wonders, he was sure of that.  
  
He briefly wondered if he should wait for Philia before drinking it, but quickly decided against it.  
  
“Sorry Phi-Phi, I’ll bring you back here sometime, but for now, these whiskers have gotta go. You’ll still recognize me, no matter how much I alter my character. Nobody’s as good at teasing you as I am.”  
  
He popped off the lid and drank every last drop. Oddly, it seemed as if he could taste it, feel it sliding down his throat, but that was impossible. He must’ve just been imagining things with all the excitement. He waited to be taken to the character creation screen, but nothing happened.  
  
“Loading slowly, I guess. This kinda thing doesn’t happen very often! Gotta be patient!”  
A long minute passed, and Kenta found himself rapidly growing impatient and uneasy. He paced back and forth, waiting for what felt like an eternity for something, anything to happen. A few seconds later, he tripped over his own pants, which had grown baggy and loose, sending him tumbling into the lake.  
  
He surfaced immediately, shivering and grumbling about the cold. He’d never gone in the water in SAO before. Philia had complained to him dozens of times about how accurately the game simulated wet clothing and how horribly that had affected some of her treasure hunts, so he just stayed away. Covered in his heavy, soaking wet outfit, he realized she hadn’t been exaggerating.  
  
“What a pain! Just...take me to the character creation screen or whatever!” He yelled out loud as he went to unequip his outfit, noting that a ‘drying time’ was now listed on every piece of his gear. The clothes disappeared with a flash, leaving him sitting in nothing but his underwear. Thankfully, the water only seemed to affect his gear, and as he peered over his body, he noticed it was totally dry and...oddly scrawny.  
  
“Man, is that what I look like without clothes? I...I was sure I made this character a little bigger than that…” Kenta lifted one of his arms, noting how lithe and smooth it seemed. He hadn’t wanted to make a burly character, but he at least gave his avatar some muscle.  
  
“Wait, I don’t wear huge gloves, my hands are definitely meant to be bigger than that!” He held his hands up close to his face. They were so small, so slender, so...  
  
“Girly?! What the hell?” They were undeniably feminine and as he looked at them closely, they shrank further right in front of his eyes, slimming down as the nails grew out slightly.  
  
“Hey! This isn’t how it’s meant to go! I’m meant to pick my own changes, right? You’re just gonna make me some pipsqueak kid?!” He yelled, standing up with his arms outstretched to the sky, hoping an admin might hear him and realize the mistake the game was making. He opened the menu to try and log out, hoping that’d stop whatever was happening. He tapped the button and...nothing. His inputs just didn’t seem to register.  
  
“H-hey! Lemme logout or something, I-ah!” His cries were reduced to a pained yelp as his shoulders crashed inwards and his waist cinched in, only furthering the girly appearance Kenta was so worried about receiving. He grimaced, so off put by what was happening that he barely even noticed how...real everything felt.  
  
As he rubbed his shoulders gently, he suddenly felt unsteady, his legs shaking. He looked down as an odd rippling sensation enveloped his scrawny thighs. As he watched, they seemed to plump up slightly, becoming rounder, more feminine. He reached down to grab at them, dismayed by how soft and squishy they felt. At the same time, he was overcome by an uncomfortable feeling of vertigo, the ground seemingly rising up beneath him as his stature shrunk further, his feet reducing to an adorably small size with it. His hips cracked outwards, rapidly widening to an adorable girlish size and leaving Kenta unsteady on his feet, sending him toppling over once more, landing on his butt.  
“Ow ow ow! Why’s this gotta hurt so much, huh? I thought pain wasn’t meant to be a thing in SAO?!” He knew nobody was listening to him, but yelling helped him fight through every alien sensation gripping his body. He stood up, rubbing his butt where he’d landed on it, freezing as he noticed just how big it had grown, feeling his underwear wedging in slightly.  
  
“H-huh?!” He squeezed it gently, feeling it fill up his palms. He didn’t want to admit just how great it felt, how soft and comfy it was, how nice it felt to be squeezed like that. He looked down at it as best as he could, his eyes widening in shock.  
  
“Are you freakin’ kidding?! Y-you’re making me a girl?!” He was kicking himself for not noticing sooner. He could’ve passed it off as him becoming more androgynous before, or maybe just getting smaller and younger, but with hips that wide and a butt that soft, he was certain he knew what was happening to him.  
  
As if the potion’s effects were answering him, he felt an odd tugging sensation at his groin. He realized exactly what it meant, and reached down to try and stop it.  
  
“H-hey! No way I’m letting you take that!” He reached down to try and stop the change, keep at least some aspect of his soon-to-be former avatar, but the second his hand came into contact with his underwear, he was gripped by an all-encompassing feeling of bliss that brought him to his knees, clouding his head as his penis was pulled into his body, his genitals completely and utterly rearranged into a cute, tight, pink pussy.  
  
“Ahn~!” Kenta cried out in pleasure, not even noticing as his voice cracked, the world may as well have ceased to be at that moment, for all the thought he was able to muster up through his orgasm, wave upon wave of pure ecstasy coursing through his very being.  
  
Panting on the floor for a moment, he was made vaguely aware of a weight building on his chest as a pair of small, perky breasts began to sprout up, his nipples puffing up and darkening at the same time. By the time his head cleared to the point where he could actually tell what had happened, all he could really do was lazily bring his hands up to his new boobs and pinch his nipples softly...  
  
“Ahn~!”  
  
...Which sent him right back to drowning in pleasure, struggling to catch his breath and calm down.  
  
“D-damn, do all girls in SAO feel this…amazing?...”  
  
“Hey, wait a sec!” He forced himself back onto his feet, wobbling unsteadily, still coming down from his high.  
  
“I sound all cutesy!” His voice was totally unrecognizable as his own. His voice had been low and steady, this was high-pitched, nasal, and oh-so cute. He reached up to grasp at his neck, noting the lack of an adam’s apple before getting distracted by an itchy feeling at his head, as well as hair slowly encroaching on the edges of his vision. He scrambled to kneel next to the lake, staring at the calm surface to watch as the changes engulfed his head. His messy hair was still growing slowly, turning a bright blonde as soft bangs covered his forehead and locks pushed themselves over his ears. He grabbed at his locks, noting how soft and silky they felt despite their surprisingly scruffy appearance. Bizarrely, two tufts popped up at the top of his head, giving him a pair of ahoge sitting right next to each other.  
  
“It’s...kinda cute, honestly…”  
  
“Ahh! Dammit, I didn’t mean that! I’m just...confused by everything that’s happening, that’s all! And hey, why aren’t these damn whiskers gone? They’ll go in a sec, right?!”  
  
He pawed lightly at the markings, his cheeks filling out slightly as he did, while his chin narrowed into a gentle curve and his nose shrunk down and upturned at the tip. His eyes widened slightly while his brown irises lightened slightly, gaining an almost golden tint. His eyebrows narrowed and arched up, adding a confident look to his eyes. He couldn’t help but notice that his resting expression had changed, too, one side of his mouth curling up into a naturally snarky grin. As quickly as the changes had racked his body, they just...stopped. He was certain now that everything was done.  
  
“So why are these things still here?!” He rubbed at the whiskers once more, where there had once been a slight difference in texture where the ink had been applied, it now felt smooth and soft, like the rest of his skin.  
  
“You’re kidding, right?! You made these things part of me?!” He yelled out, furious at his rotten luck.  
  
He chuckled softly to himself, realizing how misplaced his annoyance was.  
  
“I get turned into a girl and I’m still mad at some whiskers. Man, Phi-Phi would have a field day with this, hehe…” He shivered slightly, the cool air on his nearly nude body finally beginning to get to him.  
  
“Even if I’m a cute girl, I’m not gonna be some exhibitionist…” he smiled gently, trying to take in any solace he could after such a drastic shift while he opened up the character menu, noticing yet another change.  
  
“Argo, huh? Guess this is the identity stuff the item description mentioned.” He found it hard to get irritated at the change to his character’s name. After all, it was a lot better than his old one. He did, however, grimace as he saw this character’s new date of birth, which showed that Argo was 17, a full decade younger than he was in real life, just a few weeks younger than Philia.  
  
“Bet she’s gonna tease me for that, tell me to call her ‘Big Sis’ or something…”  
  
He tried not to give it too much thought as he navigated to his equipment sets, selecting his now dry standard adventuring gear and equipping it. A bright blue light surrounded his body for an instant, and a moment later he was fully dressed, though the clothes he now wore had almost no similarities to the set Kentan01 typically used.  
  
He wore a short, hooded mantle that was brown with green accents, with slits in the sleeves that showed off part of his arms, black fingerless gloves and a black and green top that tightly covered his chest, but left his midriff totally exposed. His legs were covered by brown, loose-fitting pants that reached down to his calves, with slits similar to those on his arms that showed off his thighs almost teasingly. Lastly, his normally bulky boots had been replace with a pair of simple brown shoes, his calves left uncovered.  
  
“Maybe I’m not an exhibitionist, but Argo sure seems showy… Still, it’s kinda cute!” If he was going to play a girl from now on, at least he was a pretty one, and while he’d never normally go for something so oddly revealing, it suited his new, self assured-looking avatar nicely.  
  
He flipped through menus once more, hoping he could at least contact Philia, knowing she’d tease him, but desperately needing some company right now. Though he was doing his best to take this in stride, he was still upset at how drastically his character had been altered. She was offline, though, so he felt that it’d be best to log out for now, and spend some time back in reality before adjusting to using this new avatar later. He tapped the logout button, hoping desperately that it would work this time. Thankfully, it did, and as the logout counter popped up above him, he felt an odd pressure in his head, making it harder and harder to think as the counter ticked down, by the time it hit zero, his world faded into darkness.  
  
~~~  
  
_“We’ll play together tonight, OK Shiori? If you’re stuck on your homework, gimme a call, but I bet it’ll be no trouble for SAO’s best information broker, right ‘Argo’?”  
  
Philia snickered, the scene Kenta watched play out in front of him felt so odd, yet so intimately familiar. He’d never spent time with Philia in real life, had he?  
  
“No wait, this was just a couple of hours ago, right after class, right? Yeah! And...why would I call her Philia outside of the game? She’s Kotone and I’m, I’m… I’m me, right?”  
  
Kenta felt so odd. The more he thought back on the day, the more it felt like he’d somehow experienced it twice. Once in his usual life as a NEET, logging every minute he could into SAO, but he also remembered going to school. High school, to be exact, even though he was sure he’d graduated almost a decade ago…  
  
But no, Shiori hadn’t graduated. She couldn’t wait to, but that was still a little while away. For now though, she didn’t mind class too much, she got to see her best friend every day, after all, and in SAO, she was renowned as the greatest information broker Aincrad had ever seen!  
  
But...was she Shiori, or was she Kenta?  
  
“I’m me, and I’m pretty great!” Shiori smiled confidently. She remembered everything about being Kenta, but that wasn’t who she really was, she’d always been herself!  
  
As the logout process wrapped up, she felt warm and happy, ready to face her new reality._  
  
~~~  
  
Shiori removed her AmuSphere, blinking to clear her eyes as they adjusted to seeing daylight for the first time in a few hours. She knew that she had homework she was supposed to be doing, but after such a crazy experience, she could hardly calm down. It was silly, she’d seen this room almost every day for years now, but with everything that had happened with Kenta, it felt so much more exciting today! Like everything was bright and new.  
  
It was a fairly typical room for a girl her age, though the walls were totally covered in posters for her favorite MMOs and RPGs. Her school uniform had been tossed in a heap on the floor, a bad habit she picked up in grade school that she’d never been able to kick. It didn’t bother her too much though, and she just loved getting comfy and relaxing the second she got home from class. Her mom was endlessly frustrated by it, but kept that to herself. While Shiori could be pretty lazy when it came to any sort of domestic activities, she was a naturally talented student, so a minor bad habit like that seemed excusable for now.  
  
Shiori got up to look at herself in her bedroom mirror, smiling at her own reflection. It really was crazy how well she’d gotten her SAO character to look like her! They even had her whisker-like marks down perfectly! When she was younger, kids used to tease her for them, calling her a rat. Mean as it was, it sorta stuck with her, and when she started her career as an info broker in SAO, it seemed like a fitting moniker for Argo. Besides, she didn’t care what people had to say about them, she loved her whiskers! She winced a little as she recalled Kotone’s reactions to the markings on Kenta. To Shiori, she’d always been a kind, loving partner, but she’d laughed at Kenta for something Shiori now treasured. Would she be treated like that?  
  
“Nah, Phi-Phi’s the best! She knows exactly how cute they are!”  
  
They really did suit Shiori and her confident spirit amazingly well, giving her a charm all her own. Her outfit was super cute, too! Dressed in a cute yellow sweater dress with a green tanktop beneath it, with a plaid shirt wrapped around her waist, as well as a pair of thigh-highs and comfy sneakers, she looked as happy and energetic as she felt.  
  
“Why don’t I pay her a visit? I’ve already run a dungeon today and everything, I can take a little break from playing for now.”  
  
She picked her phone off the desk, grinning at the dorky SAO cover she’d had on it for months now, and called Kotone, who picked up almost immediately.  
  
“Hi Shiori! You don’t normally call this early in the day, what’s up?” Shiori knew Kotone would recognize her, but she still felt relieved to hear her voice address her so casually, and without any hesitation.  
  
“Phi-Phi! How’s it going? Homework wrapped up?”  
  
“Hey, you can only call me that in SAO, dummy! But yep, I’m doing well! Just finished it now!” While Kenta had used that nickname to tease Kotone, with Shiori, it just showed how close she and Kotone really were. As a result, she only got bothered by Shiori using it in the real world.  
  
“Haha, sorry Koko! Glad you’re done though! Wanna grab something to eat?”  
  
“Oh? I was just gonna make something simple here and play some SAO, you don’t wanna play right now?” She seemed a little surprised, but Shiori did have a minor addiction to the game, so her reaction was hardly unwarranted.  
  
“Well, I kiiiinda already explored a dungeon today!”  
  
“Jeez, what about your homework?”  
  
“I’ll just bring it with when I meet you, I’ll copy off of you today! It’ll be way faster than doing it alone.”  
  
“I haven’t even agreed to head out yet!” Kotone seemed reluctant, but Shiori knew exactly how to convince her to go along with this.  
  
“Tell ya what! I’ll buy lunch, and I’ll spend allllll night treasure hunting with you!”  
  
“Oh ho! Busy girl like The Rat exploring with a lowly adventurer like me?” Kotone teased Shiori gently, who couldn’t help but laugh in response.  
  
“Nyahaha, dork! Lowly adventurer or no, how could I resist partnering up with someone as cute as Philia? We’d be the hottest duo in Aincrad!” Though the two of them had always been flirty, Shiori stifled another laugh after saying that, she could practically hear Kotone blushing on the other end.  
  
“W-well, if you insist… Where do you wanna go, anyway?”  
  
“Let’s grab some stuff from that convenience store near your place, have a little picnic in the park!”  
  
“Sure, sounds great! I’ll bring a blanket! Wanna meet me at the store?”  
  
“Sounds great, see you in a minute, Koko!”  
  
“You too, Shiori!”  
  
“Love ya, Kotone.” Shiori smiled, though it was far warmer than her usual cocky grins. She really did love Kotone a lot, they were best friends, and girlfriends, and she was sure there was no better couple in the universe.  
  
“Love you too, Shi-shi!” Kotone, however, responded by teasing her.  
  
“H-hey, since when did you give me nick-” She heard a tone signaling the end of the call.  
  
“Jeez, I’m a bad influence on that girl! She’d better at least start calling me something cuter than that! Hell, she can call me Argo!” Shiori’s smile widened into a cocky grin once more as she packed a backpack.  
  
“Ohhhh, I know just how to make her blush!” Shiori got up and headed to her closet, picking up some accessories and putting them on in front of her mirror.

Her clothes now complemented by a cat-eared hat and a cute tail, she grabbed her things and headed outside to meet her girlfriend.  
  
~~~  
  
Shiori saw Kotone outside the store and started jogging to her while Kotone waved at her happily. She practically bowled her over with a warm, excited hug.  
  
“Shiori! Hi th- Hey! What’s with the weird getup?” Kotone’s joy quickly turned to confusion at her girlfriend’s kitty accessories.  
  
“Oh? I thought you loved this dress?” Though it was gentler than it had been between Kenta and Kotone, Shiori still loved teasing her a great deal.  
  
“No dummy, I mean the ears and tail!”  
  
“I just grew them! They’re cute, right? You always told me I should call myself something cuter than The Rat, so now I’m a kitty, nyahaha!”  
  
“Oh wow, if my girlfriend’s turned into an adorable kitty, I guess that means she loves getting petted now, huh?” Kotone started petting Shiori’s head gently, using her other arm to make their hug even tighter. As it turned out, their love of teasing was absolutely mutual.  
  
“You got it! I expect heavy petting every day now, ya hear?”  
  
“Haha, of course! But for real, you’re OK with wearing something like this out in public?” Kotone released Shiori from the hug, almost entirely so she could see her outfit a little better.  
  
“Why wouldn’t I be? It’s cute, right?” Shiori smirked, she really didn’t feel like she had a single reason to be embarrassed, especially not around the girl she loved.  
  
“Super cute! Goes well with those cute whiskers, too!” Kotone responded cheerfully.  
  
Shiori froze for a second, she knew what she was about to ask was silly, but she felt like it was important anyway.  
  
“Koko, you...don’t think my whiskers look silly, do you?”  
  
Kotone knew it wasn’t like Shiori to get self-conscious over anything like that, so she responded earnestly, knowing exactly how to cheer her up.  
  
“Y’know, when we first met in middle school, I admit I was a little surprised, but you wanna hear something kinda embarrassing?”  
  
“What’s up?”  
  
“I really did think you were some kind of catgirl. I thought you were the cutest girl ever! Those adorable whiskers are the best! I want my own pair!”  
  
Shiori’s grin returned, wider than it had been all day.  
  
“Well, they’re all mine! But while you can’t have my whiskers, you can always have me!” Her confidence was back in full force, and she knew it wouldn’t vanish anytime soon.  
  
“Haha, it’s a pretty good consolation prize! Seriously, I think you made me realize I liked girls, Shiori!”  
  
“I get that a lot, you know. Still, you’re the only girl for me!”  
  
“You too, Shiori.” She paused for a moment, delighted to see her girlfriend’s smile resurface, then continued speaking. “Oh, unless we find another cutie we both like! Then we’ll all date each other!”  
  
“Nyahaha, definitely! I’ve got a lot of love to give, and I know you do, too!” Shiori’s smirk only grew wider as Kotone spoke. She always knew how to cheer her up.  
  
“Let’s get some food, huh?” Kotone adjusted herself, putting an arm around Shiori’s back and walking her into the store.  
  
They spent a couple of minutes picking out some food they liked, then headed to the nearby park.  
  
~~~  
  
Shiori scarfed down another piece of chicken, letting out a satisfied sigh immediately after. It was a beautiful day with the girl she loved, their food was amazing, and she’d copied all of her work in no time at all! It was shaping up to be pretty special day, all in all.  
  
“Hey, don’t hog all the best bits!” Kotone cried, snatching a piece of chicken away before Shiori could take it all.  
  
“Nyahaha! Sorry, Koko! Ya want the rest of that?” Shiori smiled, elated despite her girlfriend chewing her out.  
  
“Yep! I’ll just take eeeeevery last piece of everything we bought!” Kotone smirked, jokingly.  
  
“Oh, then you’ll get all chubby and soft and huggable! Works for me!” Shiori matched her teasing, beat for beat.  
  
“Hmmm, y’know, if it means you’ll hug me even more, that’s not a half-bad tradeoff! Still, I like my figure just how it is! Guess I’ll be oh-so-generous and share the rest with you.”  
  
“Ya know what? Let’s compromise here. We can split the food, aaaand…” Shiori reached for Kotone, hugging her tightly and gently lowering her onto her back, leaving Shiori grinning down at her.  
  
“...I’ll just hug and kiss ya a bunch as is. Fair trade?”  
  
“Fair trade.” Kotone smiled warmly, blushing a little at Shiori’s forwardness.  
  
Shiori lowered herself slowly, pressing her lips softly against Kotone’s. What started as a gentle, innocent kiss quickly turned passionate, sticking their tongues in each others mouths as Shiori reached a hand down to Kotone’s boobs, squeezing one of them gently and hearing a stifled moan try to pass through her lips. Thankfully, Shiori knew nobody was around to see them, but still, they wouldn’t go any further than this in public.  
  
After a little while, they both pulled away from each other, Shiori rolling over next to Kotone and staring up at the sky, happily.  
  
“It looks so bright today, doesn’t it? Guess it’s because I’m with you...” Shiori asked Kotone, her voice wasn’t quite as laced with her usual cockiness, instead sounding gentle and loving.  
  
“Haha, I thought the sappy stuff was reserved for me! But yeah, it’s beautiful.”  
  
“Or maybe we’ve just spent too much time looking at the sky in Aincrad, nyaha!” Shiori laughed gently.  
  
“Nothing wrong with that, right? That sky’s just as magical as this one. We share both of them, after all, and any sky with you under it’s gotta be special!” Kotone sounded so earnest, so adorably sweet, that Shiori couldn’t help but laugh.  
  
“Nyahahaha! You’re right! I should just leave the sappy stuff to you!”  
  
“Hey! I’m being serious, dummy!”  
  
“I know, Koko. You’re just so damn cute, ya know? You can be a total sap and it’ll still sound amazing coming from ya. I just love you so, so much it almost hurts.”  
  
“Shiori?” Kotone asked, softly.  
  
“Yeah?”  
  
“I love you too, dummy. You’re the best.” Kotone rolled over, hugging Shiori lovingly.  
  
Shiori reached an arm around Kotone’s back, returning the hug.  
  
“It can be a tie, right? We can both be the best? After all, I’m Aincrad’s best info broker, and you’re the best treasure hunter. Plus, nobody’s quite as cute as us, so it’s gotta be a tie!” Shiori never missed a beat to have fun with Kotone like this, especially if it meant praising them both heavily.  
  
“Haha! Yep, I guess it’s gotta be a tie. We’re both the best, no matter which world we’re in.”  
  
“Koko, let’s just...sit here awhile, OK?”  
  
“Oh? I figured you’d wanna play some SAO together!”  
  
“We’ve got alllll night for that.” They’d lost sleep playing together before, but it never seemed to bother either of them, not when it meant they got even more time to be with each other.  
  
“Yeah, I guess we do.” Kotone snuggled herself against Shiori’s chest, sighing happily. It’d be quite a while before either of them even thought about moving.  
  
~~~  
  
Shiori returned home just before it got dark. Too stuffed to even think about eating, she told her mom she was heading to bed and ran right up to her room, putting her AmuSphere back on, and logging in to SAO once more. It took no time at all for Philia to meet up with Argo in the house they bought in-game together.  
  
“Y’know, I think you should start dressing like a kitty in here, too!” Philia teased.  
  
“Oh? But the hood looks good, don’tcha think? Can’t be too cutesy, either, I don’t want all of my customers falling head over heels for me! What if you get some competition, Phi-Phi?”  
  
“Well, whoever the lucky girl ends up being’ll will have to date us both, because we only come as a package deal!”  
  
“Well Phi-Phi, guess I’ll have to make sure she’s up to scratch for both of us!” Argo leaned in and kissed Philia gently.  
  
“But it doesn’t matter, I’m not selling anyone anything tonight, I told ya all I’d be doing is helping you find treasure today, right?”  
  
“Right, so start sniffing out some good stuff! Got it, Little Miss Rat?” Philia beamed, eager to start what would surely be an incredible night for both of them.  
  
“Got it! I’m good to go!” Argo said, and practically sprinted out the door, grabbing Philia by the hand and pulling her along.  
  
It really had been one of the best days ever, and Argo knew it was only going to get better.


End file.
